2017 has ended and she ushered in — gave birth to — another 365 days wherein humanity can strive toward human excellence, another blessed opportunity for us to set straight our affairs and to address unfinished business.
Our greeting is “Happy New Year,” but our prayer is that everyone has a very successful and healthy 2018 throughout all four seasons. A new year gives us a sense of newness when many of us will rededicate our lives to what is good and wholesome in hopes of making ourselves a better person.
A new year suggests that we got a new lease on life, that somehow we made it through some difficulties. It is at this time of the year when we — despite our shortcomings — recognize that our Creator has given us more than we deserve.
The Muslim calendar is observing the year 1439 A.H. (after hegira/migration). That means it has been 1,439 years since prophet Muhammed established his community in Medina, Arabia, after suffering 13 years of oppression and torture in Mecca, the town of his birth. The last Islamic “new year” occurred Sept. 21, 2017.
In America, we live under the Gregorian calendar. The year 2018 A.D. (anno Domini, Latin for “the year of our Lord”) is based upon the Christian era, also called the “Common Era” — thus C.E. and A.D. are the same. The year 2018 is saying that 2,018 years have passed since the beginning of the Christian Era.
In Islam, time cannot contain our Creator, the Lord of the heavens and the earth and all that exist in between the two. We believe that our Creator Allah (G_d) is eternal, existing long before alpha and long after omega. Christians and Jews, too, believe in the eternal existence of an omnipresent masterful Creator of all that exists. New Year’s is observed differently on various calendars, but none can define or limit G_d’s existence. Instead, each new year timestamps for mankind a mark indicating when their Creator extended His mercy upon us.
New Year’s in all of the world’s calendars represents a new birth in the lives of humanity. It is a chance to review the old and plan for the new as we seek to get closer to our families and communities, so that when the difficulties of life come our way, we can stand as a united family and confront what lies before us.
The new year also is a time for forgiving others as well as a time to forgive ourselves. It is a season for making all things new — a renewal that is possible only if we don’t hold onto old, tired ideas and values that repeatedly failed to answer our needs. This is the happiness of this new year that the Muslim American community wishes for our city, state and nation.
Let’s pray to our Creator that He bless us to keep an awareness of the time that He has given us; that we make the best of the time we have been entrusted. Time is fluid and constantly passing us by, waiting on no one. It is very important that we do not let opportunities to speak out against injustice pass us by. We are reminded in Chapter 103 of the Quran: “Verily in time mankind is lost, except for those who have faith and do righteous deeds, and counsel one another truth, patience and constancy.”
Hopefully — if we are blessed to live the whole year — when Dec. 31, 2018, arrives, we all can humbly say, “2018 was a very good year.” However, if we do not live each and every day that our Lord loans to us throughout the entire year with gratitude and faith, then that “loan” may become unbearable, yielding little or no return. Let’s pray for the success of everyone within and around our lives. When all people around us are good, then everyone is in a good situation. Let’s pray for the goodness of everyone regardless of their respective faith or belief system. This is the Muslim American hope for a happy and prosperous new year for all people. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Michael Saahir is the imam at Nur-Allah Islamic Center. He can be reached at nur-allah@att.net.
